Silt clouds in Stinging Nettle Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Jul 292013
 
Silt clouds in Stinging Nettle Cave

About the cave Stinging Nettle is a small sloping cave just across the road from Pines, with a gated entrance at one end of a shallow doline. There’s fine, dark organic silt through the whole cave but because it’s rarely visited by divers and only accessible on the weekends the water is normally crystal clear on the way in. The permanent line leads the way down the slope, twisting left and right between the boulders. The diveable cave has been formed by boulders rolling down the slope and coming to rest wedged between floor and ceiling which makes for an interesting dive. About the dive This was the first time I’d been in Stinging Nettle in 18 months, but I [read more…]

Critters on Richelieu Rock

 Macro, Ocean diving, Reef diving  No Responses »
Jul 222013
 
Critters on Richelieu Rock

About the site After realising last week that I hadn’t talked about diving Richelieu Rock aboard the MV Giamani, I shared a couple of my favourite wide angle shots from the dive with you. And the view across the dive site was pretty spectacular. Beyond the view in great vis I really enjoyed was the two dives I did with my macro lens, because every crevice I looked into, a critter was looking back out at me. Richelieu is covered in critters from lionfish to clownfish, dancing shrimp to decorator crabs, with spotfaced, honeycomb and white-eyed moray eels jostling for position. About the dive The abundance of photogenic critters presented a bit of a dilemma. Instead of being able to focus on getting [read more…]

Richelieu Rock, Thailand

 Ocean diving, Reef diving  1 Response »
Jul 082013
 
Richelieu Rock, Thailand

About the dive site I had a very relaxed two days last weekend, and decided to go for a late afternoon Sunday dive down at Mornington Pier. This turned out to be a terrible idea as I  filled the housing with seawater in my first ever camera flood. After getting assessments done for repairs and replacements, the whole lot is now with my insurance company. I’m very hopeful of being back in the water with camera in hand in another week or two, but it means I didn’t take any underwater shots over the weekend. So I was having a look back through my archive and discovered despite talking about the macro shots and the wreck shots from my Thailand [read more…]

Rocky foregrounds in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Jul 012013
 
Rocky foregrounds in Tank Cave

About the cave Looking back, this is the 14th photo article I’ve posted about my trips through Tank Cave. With easy access, miles of shallow tunnels and clear water it’s easy to see why we keep going back. On the other hand, long tunnels tend to lead to long swimming dives and it becomes a challenge to find a new angle while on the move. Things that have occupied me in the past include reflections in surface bubbles, action shots of divers reeling out, the perfect tunnel shot and more. About the dive I have to admit I wasn’t feeling the inspiration on this particular weekend. The more I dive in Tank, the more I notice the diver damage throughout [read more…]